Researchers from the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe will gather to examine evidence surrounding the relationships between environmental exposures, natural hazards, and cancer prevention and control.
San Juan, Puerto Rico – October 28, 2026 – The University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCCUPR) will host its inaugural Environmental Risks and Cancer Research Conference on November 12-13, 2026 at the Puerto Rico Convention Center. The event comes in response to a growing need for dialogue, collaboration, and multidisciplinary research on environmental exposures and extreme weather events affecting cancer prevention, management, and outcomes.
As a region, the Caribbean exhibits environmental and climatic exposures, including hurricanes and extreme heat, particularly relevant to the study of how exposures may be associated with cancer risk, prevention, and control. Furthermore, these events can trigger prolonged disruptions of essential services, raising important questions for healthcare research and policy across the cancer control continuum in the region.
To address these challenges, the CCCUPR research aims to better understand the complex interplay between environment, climate, and locoregional factors with cancer, including through projects conducted as part of the NCI-funded Caribbean Cancer Research Center on Environmental and Natural Hazards (CARIB-CARES; grant no. 1P20CA294096).
The 2026 Environmental Risks and Cancer Research Conference will allow these regional experiences to become part of a broader scientific conversation while facilitating exchange between researchers studying environmental exposures and hazards across different populations using diverse methodologies.
Over the course of this two-day meeting, participants will attend keynote lectures, scientific sessions, panel discussions, and poster presentations on topics including carcinogen exposure, environmental epidemiology, geospatial approaches to exposure assessment, the role of the environment in the human microbiome, and environmental risk communication. The conference will also examine how scientific knowledge can strengthen public health practice, guide future research, and support the development of evidence-based interventions and policies.
The conference will offer up to 10 continuing education credits for eligible professionals to enable them to stay current with the latest developments in the field, strengthen their knowledge through evidence-based content, and promote interdisciplinary exchange.
“Scientific research gains greater value when it helps us better understand the needs of the populations we serve. For us, it is an honor that our institution is hosting, for the first time, an international scientific event of this magnitude, bringing together local and international experts to discuss an emerging topic of great relevance to science and public health. Gathering these researchers in Puerto Rico creates opportunities to strengthen capacity, develop new collaborations, and continue generating knowledge that can contribute to cancer prevention and control,” states Elba V. Caraballo Rivera, PhD, MSc, CCCUPR Deputy Executive Director.
Ana Patricia Ortiz, PhD, MPH, Interim Director of the CCCUPR Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences and chair of the conference organizing committee, adds: “This conference represents a unique opportunity to position Puerto Rico as a meeting ground for high-level scientific discussion on an emerging issue of increasing relevance to global public health. It is a novel conference, among the few dedicated exclusively to the relationship between environmental risks and cancer.”
Global and national leaders including Joanne Kim, PhD, MPH of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Gary Ellison, PhD, MPH, Director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) will be joined by local leaders including CCCUPR-based researchers Ana Patricia Ortiz, PhD, MPH and Nancy Cardona-Cordero, DrPH, alongside experts from the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus (Pablo Méndez-Lázaro, PhD and Filipa Godoy-Vitorino, PhD). Additional speakers include Devra Lee Davis, PhD, MPH of the Environmental Health Trust and Juan Ortega García, MD, PhD of the University of Murcia in Spain.
Other speakers include:
- Anna H. Wu, PhD, University of Southern California
- Lauren Petrick, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Cynthia Moylan, MD, Duke University Health System
- Stefania Papatheodorou, MD, PhD, Rutgers School of Public Health
- Leticia Nogueira, PhD, MPH, American Cancer Society
- Naresh Kumar, PhD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
- James Shultz, PhD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
- Richard Remigio, PhD, University of Nebraska Medical Center
- Rena Jones, PhD, and Batel Blechter, PhD, U.S. NCI
- Noreen Michael, PhD, University of the Virgin Islands
- Robin E. Dodson, ScD, Silent Spring Institute
- Alexandra Goho, MS, Silent Spring Institute
- Hari S. Iyer, ScD, Rutgers Cancer Institute
The diversity of disciplines represented will allow participants to examine the connection between the environment and cancer through a multidisciplinary lens.
Registration for the event is now open.
For more information about the program, registration process, and additional event details, please visit the meeting website:cccupr.com.
